This invention is directed to a system for cleaning ductwork and particularly to a system for cleaning ductwork with equipment generally used to clean carpets.
The ductwork comprising a commercial and/or residential building's heating and airconditioning system can become contaminated with dust, dirt and even disease carrying particles. The debris in a duct may cause the occupants of a building to become ill (so-called "sick building" syndrome). Accordingly, it is desirable that the building ductwork be cleaned on a regular basis. Specialized equipment has been designed to be connected to the ductwork and vacuum the system to remove and trap any particles which are contaminating the ductwork. However, such equipment is specialized and can be relatively expensive.
Carpet cleaning systems and their associated equipment are quite common and are used in many locations. These systems, both portable and truck mounted, utilize a vacuum unit which is used to extract a liquid cleaning solution which is applied to the carpet, vacuumed off the carpet, and drained into a liquid waste tank. It would be desirable if the vacuum system of carpet cleaning equipment could also be used to clean ductwork. However, the vacuum unit of a carpet cleaning system cannot be directly connected to building ductwork as the dust and particles that are removed from the ductwork will damage the impellers of the carpet cleaning vacuum unit. The present invention provides a means to utilize carpet cleaning equipment to clean building ductwork without damaging the equipment or allowing harmful particles to get into the air..
The present invention is directed to a system for cleaning building ductwork utilizing the equipment used to clean carpets. In the system, the vacuum unit and liquid waste tank of a carpet cleaning system are used in their normal manner. A flexible vacuum hose runs between the building ductwork and the carpet cleaning unit including a fluid waste tank system. The vacuum unit of the carpet cleaning extractor is used to create a vacuum so as to draw the dirt and particles out of the ductwork. Attached to the hose running between the building ductwork and the liquid waste tank is a liquid injector system which sprays a liquid (generally water) into the vacuum line from the building. The dirt and particles carried in the line will mix with the water and be pulled into the waste tank for removal. As the particles have become trapped in the water, no particles will reach the vacuum system of the carpet cleaning system and therefore cannot damage it or allow harmful particles back in the air. The present invention can be used to clean all types of ductwork ("flex duct", "tin duct" and insulated duct) and can be implemented on both portable and truck mounted carpet cleaning systems.